Car distributor Inchcape says impact of US tariffs has been 'limited'

Daily Mail​

a day ago

Car distributor Inchcape maintained its full-year financial outlook this week, banking on a resilient performance driven by steps to manage costs and inventory to offset the impact of US tariffs and fierce competition.
Inchcape, which exports cars for global manufacturers across 40 countries, said the impact of US tariffs so far in the year had been 'limited', adding that growth could tilt towards the second-half due to the cyclical nature of its sales.
Britain and the US signed a formal trade agreement last week, under which British car makers will be given an annual quota of 100,000 cars to be sent to the US at a 10 per cent per cent tariff rate.
Inchcape shares rose over 6 per cent following the update, having slipped around 2 per cent in the last year.
Inchcape said it expected 'another year of growth', including higher earnings per share growth.
The group reported revenue of £9.3billion and a profit of 71.3p per share last year.
Americas saw a continued improvement in trading, Australia was 'resilient' with ongoing headwinds in some other AsiaPac markets, while Europe & Africa continued an underlying outperformance of the market, Inchcape said in an update on Thursday.
Analysts expect Inchcape to report 2025 revenue of £9.25billion and profits of 79.5p per share.
Peel Hunt analyst Andrew Nussey said in a note: 'Investors will likely be reassured that the unchanged guidance now accommodates tariffs, as well as the operational discipline.'
In April, the group said it had gained seven distribution contracts, including deals to sell BYD's electric vehicles in Lithuania and Latvia and Smart cars in Ecuador, Colombia, and Uruguay.
so far and reiterated its annual guidance.